Wisconsin Travels

After ten years of not making any dolls, I started to again so I could have a Hitty, and now I think I'm a dollmaker again. I hope, as time goes on, I will be adding pictures of more dolls to this page.

This first group is most of my early Hittys. I gave each one an initial in alphabetical order. My first one is in the front on the left. She is Hitty A and is made of pine. So far the rest of my Hittys are made from jelutong. Hitty G, next to Hitty A, belongs to Bill and Pat Fifer. I traded her for one of their little wooden dolls. In the back row are Hitty E, Hitty D and Hitty F. Hitty F lived with my son in Hawaii for a year, and she has traveled to Australia with him and his wife.

Here are my later Hittys. They are Hitty H, Hitty I, Hitty J and Hitty K. I painted my Hittys through Hitty I with watercolors, but I changed to acrylic paints with Hitty J. A Hitty needs sturdier paint to withstand her busy life. Hitty H belongs to my daughter, and she calls her Happy Hitty. Hitty K is the first doll that I have sold since 1987. Her owner calls her Hitty Katrina or Hitty Kat.

This is my peddler. I made her in the 1980s and even made her clothes, but I never painted her. I did that in the year 2001. She is made of pine and is all wood and mortise and tenon joints. She was the first doll that I painted with acrylic paint. When I use that paint, I give the dolls a couple of coats of Deft.

This is Dottie. I made her, because I wanted to see if I could make someone else besides Hitty again. She represents a little girl of about 7 years old. She is seven inches high. I made her arms so that they move independently of each other, which Hitty's arms do not do. She is made of jelutong and painted with acrylic paints. Her clothes are made of dotted swiss, hence her name.

Three more Hittys. I finished these in 2003. They are Hitty L, Hitty M and Hitty N. they are all carved from Jelutong. Hitty L and Hitty N have gone to new homes, but Hitty M is staying with me. I tried to copy the clothes that the original Hitty wears for L and M. Their dresses are red calico trimmed with ecru lace and pearl buttons in the back. Hitty N turned out to be rather serious looking so I thought she would be the kind of girl who could keep a white dimity dress clean. Her sash is blue silk, and she has a blue straw bonnet.

This is Hitty O or Hitty Ophelia. She is made from a Mountain Ash blank given to me by Bill Fifer, and I finished carving and painting her. She is a combination of a Fifer Hitty and a Gavney Hitty. I am happy with the way she turned out, as she is quite small and dainty. She is always going to belong to me.

You can find more information about Hitty and wooden dolls on
Jean Lotz's Wooden Doll Page